The founder of the Juárez Technology Hub and operator of several businesses on both sides of the United States-Mexico border is the new leader of the El Paso Chamber.
Ricardo Mora was chosen to be the new chief executive officer of El Paso’s largest business organizations after a 90-day national search that brought about 300 applicants, chamber officials announced Monday.
He replaces Andrea Hutchins, the first woman to serve as the chamber’s CEO in its 125-year history. She left the job in June because her husband, an Army officer, was transferred out of El Paso.
“Our selection committee was purposeful in finding a CEO who can help develop and capitalize on opportunities of binational near-shoring, tech manufacturing and human capital development. Ricardo doesn’t just fit the bill, he exceeds it,” Elizabeth O’Hara, the chamber’s board chairwoman, said in a statement.
As co-founder and chief executive officer of the Juárez Technology Hub, Mora has helped oversee the Bridge Accelerator binational supplier development program, aimed at helping manufacturing suppliers on both sides of the border expand their markets. The program started in 2019 with $1.5 million from Microsoft.
Mora resigned as the tech hub's CEO to take his new job, a chamber official said.
Mora, who describes himself as a “serial entrepreneur,” has been operating RM International. It’s his El Paso company with subsidiaries in telecommunications and food services in Mexico and the United States, according to his biography on the website of the New Mexico State University Arrowhead Center advisory council, of which he is a member. Arrowhead is an economic development organization at NMSU.
He opened two Taco Tote restaurant franchises in the Phoenix area years ago, according to a 2006 El Paso Times story.
He was born in El Paso and grew up in Juárez, where his dad worked in a maquiladora and his mom operated a salsa bottling company, according to a 2019 profile in Inc. Magazine.
"I am honored to join the El Paso Chamber and look forward to driving growth and innovation in our business community," Mora said in a statement.
Besides the Arrowhead Center advisory council, Mora also serves on several other nonprofit organizations’ boards, including Desarrolla Economico Ciudad Juárez, Funax-FabLab Juarez, and the University of Texas at El Paso Development board, according to chamber information.
Mora begins his new job Aug. 19.